What to Do When Your Bloodstones Go on Strike
by Raven'sDesk221b
Summary: Cecil has a bad hair day; Carlos Helps Follows There's Just More of You to Love


Cecil's hair had actually been the first physical trait Carlos had really noticed about the man who was apparently spouting ridiculous things about him on the radio. The wide array of bright colors and randomly differing lengths were relatively benign, but they were just the most obvious aberration in a man who was in all probability dangerous. Eventually, after several the-world-might-be-ending-this-is-definitely-not-a -dates and a few purely-platonic-Big-Rico's-Slices, he realized that the broadcaster was mostly harmless, and his hair became just another of the quirks that made him so lovable. It wasn't until they were spending multiple nights a week with each other that the scientist really understood that Cecil had no control over his hair's appearance. Carlos had asked, just once, if Cecil had ever gotten it cut, and the man's reaction was so visceral that Carlos had promised himself to never even remotely bring up the subject again. The matter came to a head, however, after the couple had spent the night at the scientist's apartment.

Carlos was in the kitchen, trying desperately to find something to serve for breakfast and kicking himself for not going grocery shopping more often (he had actually made it inside of the Ralph's the day before, but he had quickly left without buying anything after the tomatoes started screaming), when he heard Cecil come out of the bathroom. He smiled as he heard his footsteps getting closer; Cecil had already been in the shower when Carlos woke up, and the scientist's heart started doing odd acrobatics at the thought of getting to see his boyfriend again (he briefly wondered when that excitement about seeing Cecil first thing in the morning, and considered the idea that his cardiac acrobatics might actually be literal in Night Vale). His smile slipped off his face, though, when he saw the thunderous look on his partner's face.

"Carlos! You need to tell me where your scissors are!" He demanded, his chest heaving. He gripped his hair in his fists (which today was light brown and went down to his waist). "I cannot live like this! It's too hot, and it's heavy, and it won't stay out of my face! I can't work if my hair is in the way! Please, just give me the shears and damn the consequences!"

Carlos froze, confused as to what exactly was going on. "Cecil, calm down. I'm not giving you any sharp objects until you seem less manic."

"Carlos please," he whined, trying to give the other man a stern look. When that didn't work he let go of his hair and took a deep breath. "My hair is supposed to be short; I perform monthly bloodstone rituals to ensure that it falls within a four inch deviation. This," he gestured to his mass of hair, "is not within a four inch deviation. If it didn't want to be cut, then it should have stuck to the rules because I really need my hair not to be in my face!"

He nodded, still not completely understanding what was going on but was at least able to come up with a less drastic solution. "Just hold on a minute and let me see if I can help you." He waited until he got a confirmation from Cecil before heading into the back of his apartment.

He returned a few moments later with a hair brush and a few elastics; he nudged his friend into a chair and moved behind him. Initially, Cecil was tense, but as Carlos continued to run the brush through his hair, he began to relax more and more until he was literally purring. Once most of the knots were out, he started separating it into sections. When that was done he began a French-braid. It had been years since his cousins had forced him to do their hair, so his fingers clumsy and out of practice, causing him to have to start over half a dozen times. He finished and pressed a kiss on the top of Cecil's head, moving his hand down to rest against his sternum, wanting to feel the vibrations from Cecil's purrs.

"Thank you," Cecil said, his voice still deep and rumbly. "This is much better."

Carlos smiled and kissed him again, this time on the cheek. "I'm glad. Now, do you want to go out to breakfast? Because I don't currently own any food."

"That sounds great," he answered, chuckling just a little bit. "But you really need to get over your aversion to grocery shopping because this is just getting ridiculous."

He shook his head fondly. "Cecil, I love you, but produce just shouldn't scream, so I think we're just always going to disagree about that."

"I think I can live with that," he replied, still purring just a little bit. Carlos grinned and kissed him one last time before getting ready to leave for the morning.

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**Thank you to my lovely beta Painless_papercuts over on AO3**

**If anyone has anything they would like to see from Cecil and Carlos, just let me know in comments.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it!**


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